S/S–NSC Files, Lot 63 D 351, NSC 85 Series1
National Security Council Progress Report by the Acting Secretary of State
Memorandum for Mr. James S. Lay, Jr. Executive Secretary, National Security Council
Subject: Third Progress Report on NSC 85, “Program of United Nations Action to Stop Aggression.”2
NSC 85 was approved as Governmental policy on September 16, 1950. It is requested that this Third Progress Report (as of September [Page 667] 13, 1951) be circulated to members of the Council for their information.
The following are the principal actions taken to date in fulfillment of provisions of the Uniting for Peace Resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in November 1950, which is attached to the First Progress Report on NSC 85:
The Peace Observation Commission established by paragraph 3 of the resolution has been organized and is ready to function but has not been called upon to do so.
Thirty-two members of the United Nations have responded to the invitation in paragraph 9 of the resolution to submit information concerning the measures taken toward maintaining within the member’s national armed forces elements so trained, organized and equipped that they could promptly be made available for service as United Nations units. Twenty-four of those responding expressed active support for the purposes of the resolution and the recommendation in paragraph 8. The precise characters of the measures which the twenty-four propose to take differ according to the particular circumstances affecting each state.
A working group of the Collective Measures Committee established by paragraph 11 of the resolution has submitted a report on the nature and general functions of the panel of military experts mentioned in paragraph 10. That report conforms fully to the United States position approved by the Departments of State and Defense. No member of the panel has yet been appointed.
The report by the Collective Measures Committee, called for by paragraph 11 of the resolution, on methods which might be used to strengthen international peace and security is being drafted and should be completed before the end of September. The Department of State is following the practice of obtaining the views of representatives of other interested agencies of the Government in connection with the report and has received the approval of the Department of Defense on phases of the United States position involving military or strategic considerations. When the report is completed3 the Department of State will submit it to other interested agencies of the Government for their comment.
- Master set of National Security Council documentation, 1947–1961, retired by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State (S/S).↩
- NSC 85, September 14, 1950; the First Progress Report on NSC 85, October 26, 1950; and the Second Progress Report on NSC 85, November 16, 1950, are not printed. Documentation on United States proposals for strengthening the United Nations system in order to meet possible future aggression appears in Foreign Relations, 1950, vol. ii, pp. 303 ff.↩
- The Collective Measures Committee adopted its First Report on October 3 (GA (VI), Suppl. No. 13 (document A/1891)). For a statement by Harding F. Bancroft, United States Deputy Representative, with respect to the Report, released to the press by the United States Mission at the United Nations on October 7, see Department of State Bulletin, October 22, 1951, p. 666.↩